Aftermath
by forthessia
Summary: After the firing of the Crucible, one woman lay in the ruins of the Citadel. As she orders herself to stay alive, a team of marines tries to free her. How will she rebuild herself, her life and her relationships in a galaxy without Reapers? Post-destroy ending - warning for ME3 ending spoilers. Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1 :: Covered In Darkness

**CHAPTER ONE :: COVERED IN DARKNESS**

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Darkness. Heavy, crushing darkness all around. No stark white lights, no music, no life flashing before your eyes - only the darkness and the fierce, fiery pain raging from tip to toe. So this is what it felt like to die. All alone under the rubble in the Citadel, she lay barely conscious, just fighting to take another breath as each one became more painful than the one before. Spots danced before her eyes as her lungs gradually failed her, the taste of each smoke-tinged breath beginning to take its toll. Despite everything, though, she'd done what she set out to. The reapers were gone, they were destroyed, their cycle of destruction had finally been broken.

She'd ran through a severely war-torn London, a city now unrecognizable from the tourist vids. Many landmarks had been wiped out along with most of the population of the city. The local resistance had put up a good fight, an admirable fight considering their severely limited resources and the fleets had come together in a way that had seemed impossible at the beginning of the war. Although the Reapers had wiped out so many ships, they'd still won through in the end. In the final push, she'd had to order her team to evacuate after one of her best friends and the man she loved were injured by Harbinger. Kaidan. Was that truly the last time she'd see him? The last time she'd get to look into those gorgeous whiskey-colored eyes? She hoped not, but as the life force ebbed from her body, she felt herself grow weaker by the minute.

She and Anderson had made it through the beam, they'd landed on some unknown part of the Citadel and even now when the air was tinged with smoke, she swore she could still smell the decaying flesh. Their discussion with the Illusive Man had resulted in both his deaths and Anderson's, something which had almost stopped her in her tracks. She'd gone on, just as she always had, with her head as high as she could hold it, the blood she lost from an abdominal wound kept her head just that little bit lower than normal. Given three choices, she'd strode up to the only option her head would let her accept. She'd spent years of her life trying to find a way to stop the Reapers, to end them once and for all. Their Prothean puppets had even killed her once in a time, so what use was sacrificing her life to keep them alive, even if she could control them? What was the point in combining synthetics and organics? No, the only option was to wipe them out to ensure that they could never, ever wipe out another civilization.

The crucible had fired and true to its legend, it wiped them out. The war was over. But at what cost? Millions of lives. Hundreds of ships in the skies over Earth and an atmosphere tainted by eezo for their efforts. The relays were gone; each galactic race had fleets stranded on the wrong end of what used to be the Charon relay and the woman who had persuaded them all to commit to the cause lay almost dead in the aftermath of the crucible.

The longer she lay there in the silence, the more desperate she became. She couldn't die like that, all alone in the dark, no matter how heroic the actions that landed her in that position were. No. She ordered herself not to. Her amp tingled as she tried to channel what little of her strength was left into her biotics. Maybe she could move some of the rubble? But if she moved it, freed herself if she was able, would she only live long enough to bleed out? In the end it didn't even matter, her attempts at biotics were pitiful at best. All the while, her pain intensified - her abdomen bled, her chest felt as though it might implode at any second and her lungs screamed for clean air. When every avenue points toward death, surely there's no possible way out - it's the bottom line, the destination to which all roads would eventually lead, one way or the other. So it was a little earlier than she had originally planned but to die as a legend would have its perks...

No. This would not be where it ended.

The longer she lay there, the heavier the darkness seemed to become, bearing down upon her with an ever increasing force. As time passed, she was vaguely aware of a shrill bleep and a buzzing sensation somewhere around her left wrist. Felt a little like her omni-tool but surely if she was dying, it must already be dead but if her amp was still online, who knew. Maybe her technology was stronger than her body - it'd have to be but she was sure the crucible blast must've fried all of her cybernetics. Damn Cerberus tech ... But if Miranda had fixed her once, surely she would be able to do it over again. Right? Right. With her mind made up, she gasped for another breath as her head began to swim again, her vision dimmed, the light of her surroundings gave way and all she could hear was that damn bleeping. What the hell was that?

Without the energy to even open her eyes again, she couldn't even will herself to believe that she could make it out of there alive. This was it. No amount of ordering herself to breathe, no amount of ordering herself to live was going to save her now. End of line. No more Normandy, no more travelling the galaxy, no more Kaidan, only the eternal darkness. Time to embrace the silence as the Queen of a now extinct race had once put it. But her wrist still bleeped and now she could swear that she could hear footsteps somewhere behind her. Frantic, scuffled footsteps, the kind you take when you're trying to get somewhere faster than your legs want to carry you. And then the bleeping stopped, suddenly replaced by a high pitched wail, the kind of wail she might make if her body would allow her pain a voice.

The rubble shifted, groaned, as it was moved. "We think we have her," a voice came from above her but she didn't recognize the voice, couldn't see the face. Opening her mouth, she tried to make a sound, any sound that might tell her rescuer that she was there. Maybe she wouldn't die alone after all. Her throat was too far gone to be able to speak, all the noise she could make was a pained sigh, nowhere near loud enough to be heard over the sound of the moving rubble. "Yeah, that's the tracker on her omni-tool," the voice spoke again but she had no idea who they spoke to, "If she's still alive under all this shit, we're going to need an evac yesterday, last week, last fucking year." At least whoever the voice belonged to seemed to know she was almost out of time.

It felt like an eternity but as the last piece of rubble was lifted from her body, she felt the buzzing at her wrist stopped. The wailing stopped just as she caught sight of her rescue party. Finally she was getting out of here, finally someone would put her back together again. She didn't know the men in her rescue party, why hadn't her crew come to look for her? We're they even still alive?

"Someone ping Hackett, tell him that we found the Commander and that we need immediate evac," he crouched at her side and attempted to staunch the bleeding from her abdomen, "Didn't I already say we needed evac yesterday, damn it! Hang in there, Shepard, we're gonna get you back to Earth."

Earth. It wasn't home but it'd do.

"Shepard, do you hear me? Give me something here," the desperation in his voice kicked up a notch, "Shepard? Shit, she's not breathing! Kenton, you're the damn medic, get the hell over here and help out. NOW."

Maybe she wouldn't live to see Earth again after all.


	2. Chapter 2 :: Never Let Go

**CHAPTER TWO :: NEVER LET GO**

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Light years stood between Kaidan Alenko and his home back on Earth and to add to the sheer distance, his ship was damaged and his crew incomplete. They may have managed to fire the Crucible, the Reapers may have been destroyed but the woman who had brought the galaxy to that point was not on board her ship. They had delayed for as long as they could, expecting the Commander to call for evacuation but the call never came. They'd had to retreat without her and now, on whatever planet Joker had managed to land on, the Major felt an overwhelming sense of loss. He'd been injured in the final push for the beam, had stitches across his right cheekbone to close a gash too deep for medigel to help, but his welfare was the last thing on his mind. What had happened to her? Where was she? Was she even still alive to see what she had accomplished? Guilt. That was the word for it. She had pushed him back onto the Normandy, Vega had pulled him back up the ramp, but he could've fought harder to stay, could've pushed harder to fight at her side. Maybe then he'd be wherever she was and, for better or worse, they'd be together.

Although they were stranded, for now, in a foreign star system, cut off from whatever was left of the communications network, they had been able to piece together bits and pieces of things from the state of the Normandy. EDI was gone and at first they had assumed it was a hardware malfunction, maybe a systems crash, but no amount of engineering expertise or fiddling with codes on monitors was bringing her back. Assumption? The crucible had fired and destroyed all synthetic life. The thought brought chills to Kaidan's spine. Shepard was part-synthetic thanks to Cerberus. Assumption? That the woman he loved may face the same fate as the ship's AI. They were stranded on a world they didn't recognise, a planet they'd landed on after prematurely falling out of a relay jump. Assumption? Whatever energy the Crucible had released had damaged or destroyed the relay network. To top all of that off, he was now in command of a ship and crew and he had to get them all home on nothing but FTL speed and Joker's prowess as a pilot.

Assumption? Kaidan Alenko was scared.

Standing from his place at the desk in what had been Shepard's cabin, the Major made his way to the bridge - the sooner they figured things out, the sooner they could start their journey home. He'd need everyone's help, everyone would have to pitch in and do their part but he'd get them all home, he'd find his way back to Shepard eventually.

"Oh, it's you," Joker turned around in his seat to survey Kaidan, "You look like shit, man. Just saying." If ever there was a time for chain of command and proper protocol, Joker supposed that this wasn't it. If everything was going to hell, it wouldn't matter whether he addressed his superiors by their names or ranks so what was the point.

"Thanks," He rubbed the back of his neck, the stress of the whole thing really got to him, "Can you tell everyone to gather in the conference room in ten? That includes you, we need to figure out how to get home and the sooner we start, the sooner we get there." Kaidan placed both of his hands on the back of Joker's seat, "We have to get back, I have to find her, I can't just leave her out there." He could feel the tension in his shoulders, as though the weight of the world was resting there - in many ways, he felt as thought it really was. Normally he had someone who'd help him through the stress but at that moment, they were literally light years apart and, if he was honest, as much as it hurt, he didn't think he'd be seeing her again. As realistic as he told himself he had to be, at least for the sake of his sanity, part of him remained an eternal optimist. Didn't humans have a history of overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds? Hadn't they just brought the galaxy together to repel the Reapers? If they could do that, they could do anything. She'd survive, she was alive ... he just had to get to her. Somehow.

Gathered in the conference room, the crew all looked ever bit as weary as he did but they still all converged on him as soon as he walked through the door. They all seemed to have a million questions, most of them he wouldn't be able to answer, but he wasn't interested in question time. "We'll have time for questions later," he held his hands up in front of his chest as though pushing their questions back toward them, "Right now we have to figure out how to get back to Earth. It's home for most of us, the rest of the fleets will still be there so for right now, it's actually home for all of us." When he reached the head of the small meeting table, he leaned against it and looked around at everyone. "Obviously Shepard isn't here," heads dropped in sadness, "So as the highest ranked Alliance officer left on board, I'll be assuming temporary command until we get back. We need to get the systems back online, get some comms going, find out exactly where we are and plot a course for the Sol system. We all need to play a part, all need to play to our strengths."

Sighing, he ran his right hand over his face. "So here's what I had in mind. Adams, Donnelly, Daniels, get down to engineering and get the core back online, check the essential systems are ready to go. Tali, you're the closest thing we have to an AI expert, get down to the AI core and see if there's anything at all you can do for EDI. I don't need full functionality, just basic operations would be enough." Kaidan paused for a second, noting the agreement of the people around him. "Traynor, Liara, try to get something out of the comms systems, try to find out if the buoys are still operational and link us into one if they are, we need information." So far so good, no objections. "James, you're injured, so I'd like you to sound the ship. There are no hull breaches but I need to know about internal damages, no arguments, Lieutenant." He cut Vega off before he had a chance to think about objecting. "Joker and Cortez, you guys know the star charts better than anyone else here. Figure out where we are and come up with a plan to get us the hell outta here." The desperation he felt multiplied with every order he gave. "Garrus, if you don't mind, help me oversee everything, I don't know much more I can take before my head implodes."

The stress of it all was driving him crazy, he could feel the beginnings of a migraine and he knew he couldn't hold everything, everyone, together on his own. He had no idea how Shepard did it. Sure, he was a high ranking officer, but this was a hell of a time to be taking command. High stress, high stakes and no assurance of success - seemed like every mission he was assigned to turned out like that in the end. From shakedown on Eden Prime to this, was there a difference in the end? Realising that he'd gotten lost in his thoughts, Kaidan snapped his attention back to the crew gathered around him. "I want hourly reports, this room and the war room will be our nerve center. If any of you need anything, come find me. Dismissed."

Everyone filtered out of the conference room and made off toward their assignments, leaving only the Major and his newly-appointed second in command alone. Moments passed before Kaidan felt the grip of Garrus' talon on his shoulder. "We'll get it done," came his voice, "We'll get back and we'll find her. We're all here for you so don't go running yourself into the ground, you have to believe that she's out there waiting for you and that it's not over. Why don't you get some rest, I can hold things down for a while, you'll need to be at your best for when we leave."

"Thanks, Garrus," the logic was hard to argue with - what use would he be if he couldn't even keep his eyes open. "Could use a breather, my head is killing me," life with the L2 amp, giving him headaches at the worst times for as long as he could remember, "I'll be in the med bay if you need me." Maybe Chakwas had something that would knock him out, otherwise there'd be no settling his mind enough for sleep. He could only hope.

"Wherever you are, I'm on my way," he murmured, "Hold on. I'll be there soon."


	3. Chapter 3 :: Hospital Days

**CHAPTER THREE :: HOSPITAL DAYS**

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Always that infernal bleeping. Why on Earth did hospital machines always beep, why not a friendlier noise, one less offensive on the ears? And the smell. It didn't seem to matter that the building was full to the point of overflowing, the sheer numbers made no difference to the smell - always that same stringent disinfectant. Pity that with all of their technology, they hadn't found a way to resolve those two ills. As he strode through the halls of the Vancouver hospital, Admiral Hackett was single-minded - he wanted an update on Shepard's condition and he wanted it yesterday. He had attempted to make contact with her mother, a message to tell her that her daughter was alive, barely, but the communicators on her ship must still have been out, he'd been met with nothing but silence from her end. They'd fix it, he had every faith, but until then, he wanted to know the state of play.

He ignored the haphazard salutes of soldiers as he passed, he ignored the hustle and bustle of the wards as he walked toward the only room he could see. Her crew was on the way, so at least he'd have a little good news for her if, by some miracle, she was awake. She'd been unconscious for a week, it had taken him that long to clear his plate enough to be able to make this visit. As Fleet Admiral, the man at the top of the tree, it was his responsibility to oversee the rebuilding efforts, to co-ordinate the efforts of the fleets. Communication was back up and running, that hadn't taken long after the communications experts from each fleet had teamed up to solve the problem. The Quarians had lent their engineering expertise to assist those ships with drive core issues and now those had been repaired, they had all turned their attentions to more pressing matters: The relays. If they'd been built then they could be repaired, it was just going to take a little time to get there.

He had received the message from the Normandy two days before his arrival at the hospital, their QEC, now operational, was paired with his own ship. It had been a relief to see Major Alenko, as pained as he looked, and a much larger relief to hear that the entire crew had survived. Moreau and Cortez had managed to figure out where they'd landed and they had carefully plotted a route home using only their FTL drive. If their math was correct and their fuelling points were still viable, they would arrive back at Earth in eighteen days. The engineering team had managed to bring the engines and the core back online and, with some tweaking, had managed to restore full power. Their only failure, if you could even call it that, was not being able to restore full functionality to the ship's AI. Tali had managed to bring the hardware online but the programming was shot. It could be repaired, amended, but it would take time and it was far too big a job for Tali alone.

In return for their status update, Hackett had supplied one of his own, sensing that a morale boost was much needed. Shepard was alive. The look on Kaidan's face as he delivered the news was just the pick-me-up that the Admiral had needed. Sure that the news would have the same effect on the rest of the team, the Major had snapped off a salute and signed off their comm channel with a promise to be in touch again soon. The crew had a purpose again - to get home to their commander, she was going to need every bit of help she could get. Plus, he wanted Chakwas to oversee the Commander's treatment. He trusted her, Shepard trusted her, she knew the Cerberus modifications inside and out by now. In short, she was the best woman for the job, all she had to do was get there. He had every faith in the Normandy's crew, they'd had to face more than their fair share of challenges but hopefully getting home would be the last one they'd face for a long while.

"Admiral Hackett," came the voice of the woman currently overseeing the Commander's recovery, "I'm Doctor Greening, I've been supervising Commander Shepard's medical treatment and my colleague Doctor Morris has been supervising her surgeries." The doctor offered a hand which the Admiral gratefully shook. "I don't know who pulled her from that rubble but whoever it was, they got her here just in time. Any longer and I don't think we would've been able to assist." The doctor shook her head as though trying to emphasise her point. "She was admitted with several bone fractures, most of which we were able to reduce. The legs were too far gone for simple medigel treatments so we had to resort to old-fashioned pinning, the bones have been set and we should be able to take the pins back out again once the bones have knitted together enough to heal the rest of the way on their own. The ribs, as you probably know, will heal in time."

The doctor paused for a second to refer to the charts she held in her hand and Hackett took the opportunity to jump in with a question of her own. "I received a message from Doctor Morris about the Commander's cybernetic implants, the tech Cerberus used to rebuild her after the original Normandy went down. I put him in touch with Miranda Lawson a day or two ago, have they made any progress on that front?"

"Miss Lawson arrived as soon as she was able," Doctor Greening nodded, "Last I heard, they were gathering a group of scientists to discuss whether the implants were still required. As you know, they're offline at the moment and despite the many issues the Commander is fighting through, she's alive. If she can survive without the assistance of the cybernetics, the team will discuss the possibility of not reactivating them or they may reactivate them them with less power than they previously had. They won't remove them. Miss Lawson is pushing to reactivate them to normal output just to be on the safe side, I'm inclined to side with her."

Hackett nodded her approval. "Better to be safe than sorry," he looked around himself, "Tell Lawson I agree, tell her that whatever magic she worked before, we need her to work it again. I want those implants reactivated. They helped before, they'll help again. We need Shepard alive. Really alive. Not alive in a coma in a hospital bed. I know it'll be a long road for her and I know it can't be hurried but like it or not, she's a symbol to the men and women of the Alliance and they need to know that she survived." Without even realising, Hackett had slipped into Admiral mode. Every word was true, though, Shepard was a symbol, the saviour of the galaxy, and the men and women who had fought in the battles, who had lost loved ones, needed to know she'd live to see brighter days.

"Understood, Admiral," the doctor nodded, "But with the extent of the burns she suffered and the healing still to be done, it's going to take time for things to happen. These things can't be rushed, she suffered massive trauma. I mean, she's breathing on her own but she's heavily, heavily sedated. If she were awake right now, I couldn't even imagine how much pain she'd be in. Once we have the cybernetic situation in hand, then we can address the progress made with the grafts, we can re-run the tests, we can check the fractures again then, only then, can we consider re-addressing the sedation." Foot down. No amount of pressure from the Admiral would hurry this doctor.

"Don't get me wrong," Hackett continued patiently, "I don't mean to hurry you. It takes as long as it takes, that's the bottom line. Her mother would never forgive me if I pressured you. Take your time, make sure everything is done right. Her crew will be arriving in the next few weeks, they have a long journey ahead of them. When they arrive, I want Karin Chakwas brought up to speed with everything." The doctor was scribbling notes. "I'd like for her to assist you in overseeing the treatment plan. I want Lawson to update her on the cybernetics, she may want to throw in her own two cents. Kaidan Alenko is to be given visiting rights and before you say it's family only, he's part of her family." He wasn't about to bring the pair of them up on fraternisation charges, they deserved to be happy after everything that they had been through. "No negotiation on that one. In the meantime, just keep doing what you're doing. She's alive, things will improve, I'm sure. If you or your colleagues need anything at all, you know where to find me, I'll do my best to help in any way I can."

"Thank you, Admiral," Doctor Greening finished scribbling her notes, "I'll see to it that Kaidan has visitation rights and we'll make sure the Commander receives the highest standard of care. We don't make promises, as you know, and she's not out of the woods yet but we'll do our best, you can count on that."

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_A/N - Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out - had a busy time lately. Hopefully the next chapters will be out quicker! Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and leave reviews, they're all appreciated. _


	4. Chapter 4 :: Wake Me Up

**CHAPTER FOUR :: WAKE ME UP**

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Miranda Lawson found herself with quite the reputation. As a former Cerberus operative, a high ranked one at that, she didn't expect that people would immediately trust her but this task she had was about more than her past. It was about Shepard's future. She had rebuilt the woman practically from scratch in the past, and now she had been called on to work more of her magic. The fact that Admiral Hackett had sought her out personally was a compliment, her reputation preceded her and, once again, failure was not an option. She assumed that the Admiral's endorsement of her talents was the only reason that half of her team trusted her but she'd worked under worse scrutiny in the past. This may not be the Lazarus Project but the goals were the same - save Commander Shepard. She knew the urgency of their task, she knew that her team were aware of the stakes, she'd made it painfully obvious that she wouldn't accept anything less than their absolute best. As much as she tried to maintain a sense of professional detachment for the sake of her team, there could be no denying that, as far as she was concerned, things had changed. The Commander was no longer just a project, she was her friend.

She sat at her bedside, using the excuse that her newly reactivated cybernetics required constant observation. They didn't, Miranda knew that, but she wanted to be sure that everything worked, that everything was in peak condition, before she gave the ok to reduce the sedation. That judgement wasn't one she trusted to some overworked resident, no, she'd be the one to make that decision for herself. "Two weeks, Shepard," Miranda gazed at the data pad she held, making adjustments here and there, "You've been out for two weeks. I'd like to change that soon." She didn't know if the Commander could hear her but she had taken to talking to her, giving her updates on the news, the rebuilding efforts, her crew, anything Hackett fed to her by way of an update. "Hackett tells me that the Normandy may be here a little sooner than planned, they're making better time than they originally thought. A week more and they should be here." Another amendment to the chart on the datapad. "So why don't we try to have you awake for their arrival," she posed the question, well aware of the fact that she wouldn't be receiving an answer. "I'll take that as a yes. Be back soon."

With one last check of the monitors, Miranda left the room, datapad in hand, and made her way toward the room Shepard's teams had commandeered. As she stepped inside, she opened her omnitool and quickly pinged everyone - the decision had been made.

It took half an hour for the team to assemble, Miranda paced impatiently back and forward as she waited. How long was it going to take for everyone to arrive? Yes, resources were stretched and yes, the hospital was overextended but surely the saviour of the galaxy deserved a more immediate reaction. Finally, when everyone had arrived, Miranda slammed the door and retrieved her datapad from the table.

"Finally," her tone gave her mood away, "Took you all long enough to get here." Sighing, she walked to the head of the table. "As you all know, Commander Shepard's cybernetics were brought back online four days ago. We, I, have been monitoring her vitals for any fluctuations since and I'm pleased to say that things are trending positively." She motioned toward the datapad chart and then made to pass it around the room. "Admiral Hackett is keen for us to reduce the sedation and after observation, I think it's time. Her vitals are strong, the bones are beginning to take care of themselves and the grafts have taken nicely, as far as I can see, there are no major medical reasons for keeping her under any longer. If I have your agreement, I'll take the necessary steps today."

There were mumbles of assent from around the table and Miranda almost thought that she'd won the team over but that would be a little too easy. Indeed, just as she made to confirm the next steps, a voice chimed in from the back of the room.

"And what if we wake her now and she goes into shock?" The voice stopped and Miranda's eyes searched the room for its source, she finally settled her gaze on a short, heavily set woman. "What would we do then? Putting her back under after an episode like that would only add to our problems."

"If we only think of our problems then we're not doing our jobs, are we?" Miranda could feel her temper begin to rise, "Your objection is noted, Doctor, but we're here to decide what is best for Shepard, not to choose a course of treatment, if you can even call the status quo treatment, that causes us the least amount of stress." It had been a while since Miranda had been given reason to dress someone down and, if truth be told, she rather enjoyed it now. "It's time to bring her out of sedation," she repeated, "There are soldiers here with more severe physical injuries who are awake and who are perfectly responsive. The cybernetics are an unknown quantity, I know, but I've kept a keen eye on them. Shepard is ready." Her colleagues nodded their heads and she noted the doctor in the back making her way toward the door. "Then it's settled, I'll wake her this afternoon."

The meeting ended and after double and triple checking the details on the charts, Miranda walked the hallway back toward Shepard's room, a syringe and a vial in one hand, the datapad in the other. This had to work and it had to be done right, that's why she made sure she was the one doing it - she had offered no other option. Again, she wasn't going to leave the fate of her friend in the hands of an overworked resident. She reached the room, dropped the datapad on the windowsill and loaded her syringe with the dosage she had worked out. All going according to plan, Shepard would be awake in an hour. "Now or never, Shepard," Miranda sighed and injected the drug into the Commander's IV line, "Don't let me down. Wake up."

With the syringe discarded, Miranda sank into the chair at Shepard's bedside. She'd sat there often enough in the past days, a few more hours couldn't hurt and besides, she couldn't have her friend wake up only to find herself alone. The seconds turned to minutes, which turned to hours, which all felt like an eternity to Miranda until she noticed a finger moving. "Shepard?" Her voice was urgent and she quickly ran a scan with her omnitool, "Kait, can you hear me?" Her omnitool pinged with the scan result - nothing out of the ordinary, given the circumstances. The groan of acknowledgment as Shepard's eyes flickered open was all Miranda needed.

"Lawson?" Her voice was little more than a scratchy whisper but it was music to the other woman's ears. She had been right, Shepard had been ready to wake up. "Everything hurts," she managed to croak out, "Like I've gone twelve rounds with a Krogan." At least her sense of honour was still intact, even if everything else felt as though it was broken. "Where am I?"

"Vancouver, Kait," Miranda grinned as she observed her friend, addressing her by her name, or at least a shortened version of it. "We'll have plenty of time for questions later," she tapped a message into her omnitool and sent it on its way to Hackett. "For now, welcome back to the land of the living..."

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_A/N :: Again, sorry this took so long to get out - I've been struggling with what to do with this chapter but now it's done, I know exactly what I want to do with the next one. In fact, I've already started on it!_

_Again, thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this far and especially to those who have taken the time to leave reviews - they're always welcome!_


	5. Chapter 5 :: Reunited

**CHAPTER FIVE :: REUNITED**

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Shepard had never taken kindly to being stuck in a hospital, or a ship medbay either, for that matter. Even when she'd been injured in battle, she had hated having to be patched up afterward, always preferring to spent the least amount of time with doctors. In her mind, being stuck in hospital was akin to being held hostage but she knew, deep down, that it was for the best. After all, she couldn't just get up and run around right now. Ever since she'd been woken by Miranda, she'd been subject to all manner of tests: a daily psych evaluation, implant readings, observations of her vitals, blood counts, scans on her healing fractures - everything they could think of to make sure she healed.

"Ok, Commander, here we go." Shepard regarded the doctor with a look of sheer boredom. This was the sixth day she'd had to complete this routine of questions. She hadn't gotten any of the major ones wrong yet, all the standard concussion questions - she had those down. The lesser questions, however, where she had to recall more minor details, still posed a few problems. Maybe this would be the day. Of course, she realised why they were being so cautious, even the slightest blip in her neural function was cause for concern and she was assured that her memory, her ability to recall even those minor details, would return to normal eventually. She just hated having to go through the damned routine every morning. "We'll start with the usual questions and then we'll move on, alright?" The Commander rolled her eyes with impatience, "I know you know this off by heart by now but we still have to do it. Maybe today will be the last day. Your name?"

"Kaitlynn Melanie Shepard," she sighed, her eyes focussing on a point some way north of the Doctor's head.

"And your date of birth?" Came the next question. These really were ridiculously easy, even for a standard concussion evaluation.

"April 11th, 2154," she gave up trying to hide her boredom, "I'm a Lieutenant Commander in the Alliance Navy and a Council Spectre, I was in command of the SSV Normandy. Prior to that, I'd been in detention at Alliance HQ for six months. I was guarded by Lieutenant James Vega. I'm in Vancouver. I landed up here after I fired the crucible and destroyed the Reapers. I have several fractures, multiple skin grafts due to burns and the only reasons I'm awake right now is because Miranda is a genius with cybernetics and wouldn't take no for an answer. Admiral Hackett is Fleet Admiral, my mother's name is Hannah, she's a Rear Admiral. The last person I spoke to on Earth before the final push was Kaidan Alenko, who, by the by, I would kill to see right now. Are we done here?"

It was unlike her to lose her cool in such a blatant way, but she was tired of answering questions so rather than waiting for them to come one by one, she had answered them all at once. "Very good, Commander," the doctor made a few notes on her datapad, "I think we'll give you a break from this particular test for a few days and when we pick it up again, we'll skip the basics and dive right into the particulars, ok?" Shepard nodded a half-hearted assent and went back to busying herself with that spot on the wall. "But for now, some good news." At the mention of news, Kaitlynn snapped her gaze back to the young doctor. "Major Alenko contacted Admiral Hackett late last night. The Admiral wants us to let you know that they should be arriving home this morning. Depending on how long the debriefing takes, you should have some visitors very soon." With a small smile, the doctor gathered her things and made for the door, "See you in a few days, Shepard. Don't miss my questions too much."

After having nobody but the doctors, nurses and Miranda for company since she had woken up, Shepard was more than ready for a few visitors. Of course, Admiral Hackett had topped by once, when his schedule had finally allowed him, but it was a very formal visit, all shop talk. She couldn't wait to see Kaidan, to see those gorgeous whiskey coloured eyes of his, to hear the huskiness of his voice. There had been a moment, while she lay broken on the Citadel, when she thought she might never be lucky enough to see him again but the moment had almost arrived.

"Hi Shepard," the Australian accent stopped her thoughts dead in their tracks. "How are you feeling today?" As usual, Miranda had taken it upon herself to check on Shepard's implants, not trusting anyone else with the cybernetics she'd worked so hard on.

"A little better than yesterday, thanks," Kaitlynn answered, "The legs hurt a bit today but Doctor What's-Her-Face says that the Normandy arrived home? Is that true?"

"It's true," Miranda scanned her omnitool over the sites of the implants and nodded appreciatively after each scan. "I'm told that Admiral Hackett and Major Alenko are meeting at the moment, Doctor Chakwas is downstairs being briefed on your condition, she'll be taking over from the others so you'll still be stuck with me." Miranda laughed, glad that her friend would be seeing faces other than her own soon. "The rest of the crew are being checked over and as soon as his meeting with Hackett is over, I'm sure Kaidan will be heading straight over. Until then," she sat down, her omnitool switching itself off, "I can sit with you, if you like."

They talked for hours about everything the could think of, catching up on each others lives. Of course, they had seen each other during the course of the war but only for a few moments at a time, never long enough to seriously catch up. Miranda had left Cerberus after their assault on the Collector base, she had told their old friend, the Illusive Man, where he could shove his job and had been on the run ever since. Shepard couldn't remember ever seeing the other woman smile as much as she did when she heard of the Illusive Man's death on the Citadel. She was free. Kai Leng had also met his end, Cerberus was done, nobody would care to chase her now. They spoke of Oriana, she was alive and well but they had been unable to find her adoptive family - with the thousands upon thousands of missing person reports, they held little hope of ever finding them. They had each other, though, and that was enough for Miranda to be happy.

"I'm glad you're here, Miri," Kaitlynn smiled at her friend, "Thank you for everything. For bringing me back the first time and for working whatever magic you worked this time. I owe you my life twice over."

"Careful, Kait," Miranda laughed, "From where I'm sitting, that sounds suspiciously like a goodbye."

"Not a goodbye. If I'm stuck with you, you're stuck with me." Shepard laughed, wincing slightly as her ribs, still bound and healing, twinged with the movement. "Ok, that hurt."

"Careful, Kait," came the voice from the doorway, a husky baritone, "You should take it easy." It was then he caught sight of Miranda. "Oh, I'm not interrupting anything, am I? I can come back later."

"No, you're not interrupting, Major," Miranda stood and hastily made for the door, "I was just leaving. I'll see you later, Shepard. Take it easy, ok? Keep an eye on those ribs." And then she was gone, a small smile on her face.

"I should thank her later," Kaidan watched as Miranda left, "For bringing you back to me." He had crossed the room in two steps and gingerly took Kaitlynn's hand in his own.

"And I should thank Joker for bringing you back to me," Shepard grinned, "But not yet, I don't want his ego getting any bigger. Telling him that he really is the best pilot in the fleet would just make his head ten times bigger."

"You're telling me," Kaidan laughed then pressed a kiss to the back of her hand, "It's so good to see you. For a moment back there, I thought this day might never come. I thought I might never see you again."

"I promised you," she turned her head to smile at him, "That I'd be waiting for you when we ended the war. I waited. Now we're together and there's nobody shooting at us, no Reapers, no Cerberus, but we'll have to wait a while longer. Apparently I'll be stuck here for a few more weeks."

"We'll wait together," he sighed happily, "A day at a time until we can get out of here."

"Sounds like a plan to me.."

* * *

_A/N :: Fair warning, the next couple of chapters are planned as either flashbacks or mildly fluffy Shenko moments. That said, I find that I hardly ever stick to plans so we'll see where we head next. Maybe even off into the world of angst. Who knows!_

_Also, a huge thank you for the reviews so far, they're all appreciated. Special thanks to "GothicGirl96" for reviewing every chapter so far. :)_


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